


What Are Brothers For?

by Unnaturalstories



Category: Brady Bunch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11325909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unnaturalstories/pseuds/Unnaturalstories
Summary: When Peter is in a bind, Greg comes to the rescue!





	What Are Brothers For?

"Hey Greg, can I talk to you for a second?" Peter was standing in the doorway of Greg's attic room.

Greg was sitting on his bed, books and papers splayed out around him, with a pencil in his mouth. He was flipping through a textbook with a look of intense concentration on his face.

"Wull, mm a lettle bisy," he took the pencil out of his mouth, "sorry, I said I'm a little busy. Can it wait?"

Peter shrunk further back into the doorway. "Umm. Yeah, it can wait. I guess."

Greg looked up and noticed Peter's timid behavior, which was unusual for him. He marked the spot in his textbook and closed it.

"Hey, wait, Peter come back!"

After a few moments Peter reappeared in his doorway, but hesitated to actually enter the room.

"Peter? C'mon, sit down. Whatever it is you wanted to talk about, well it sounds important, so talk to me."

Slowly, Peter walked over to the bed and sat down as far from Greg as he could. Greg gave him a confused look, but didn't question it. He sat quietly waiting for Peter to speak.

After a few minutes Peter finally said, "when, erm, when did you start becoming interested in...ahh...girls?"

Peter shifted uncomfortably on the bed and stared at his lap, refusing to look up or at Greg. Taken aback, Greg cleared his throat, giving himself some time to think.

"Umm. Well, I guess when I was like 13…" he trailed off and then asked, "Why do you wanna know? You've been on dates with lots of girls."

Again Peter shifted, but this time he looked Greg in the eye.

"Yeah, I know. But when did you start to seriously look at girls? Like, imagine a future with them and stuff."

This only confused Greg even more.

"Why do you want to know, Pete?"

"Just-just tell me," Peter growled in irritation.

"I dunno. I guess around your age. Thats when I started to go steady with Maria. But why do you wanna know?" Greg asked once again. "What's this all about?"

Peter sighed and got up from the bed. "It's nothing. I was just wonderin', thanks for talkin' to me."

"Pete wait. I'm your older brother, you can tell me anything."

Greg wasn't confused anymore, he was one-hundred percent, completely baffled. What brought this on? Why did Peter want to know all of these things about him and girls?

Peter stopped walking, but left his back turned to his brother. His head was down and he was stiffly hugging himself. In a defeated whisper, he said, "even if you may hate me?"

Greg's brows furrowed. What could Peter have to tell him that might make him hate his own brother? Quickly, he reassured him.

"Pete, nothing you say could ever make me hate you. Ever."

"And you promise not tell anyone?"

"Yes. Now spill it!"

Peter turned around and locked eyes with Greg. Greg noticed that Peter's eyes were shiny with unshed tears and his cheeks reddened with embarrassment.

"Greg," His voice hitched, "I don't think about girls the way I'm s'posed to."

"Whadda ya mean?" Greg asked, trying to keep his patience.

"I think there's something wrong with me. Because-because, "here Peter started crying, "the way I'm supposed to think about girls, is the way I think about boys."

Greg was shocked. He was absolutely stunned. His brother liked boys? Romantically liked boys?

"I...ahh...well," Greg was at a loss for words.

Peter was left standing in the middle of the room quietly crying and Greg stumbled over his words.

Finally, with nothing else to say Greg stood up and walked toward his brother with open arms. Peter didn't move into his arms, but he allowed himself to be embraced by his brother. After a beat, he grasped the front of Greg's shirt and cried into his chest. Eventually, Peter lifted his head and wiped at his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I was just-," Peter looked around, "hey, when did we get on the bed?"

It was true, sometime during his episode, Greg had moved them over to the bed so they could sit down.

"Don't worry about that, but tell me. When did you, uhh," Greg made a noise in the back of his throat, "find out you liked guys?"

Peter let out a slight laugh. "You really wanna know?"

"Yes," Greg said with all seriousness.

"Well, it started when we got a new boy in our class a few weeks ago, James. I don't normally care too much when we get new kids, but he was different. I noticed him right away, and I got this funny feeling in my stomach. Kinda like when you start to swing really high and you get that tingling feeling in your stomach?"

Greg nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I get that feeling when I see a real pretty girl."

"Anyways, he sat next to me and I had to help him catch up on the assignment. We ended up becoming pretty good friends, and a few days ago he invited me to the park. I had a blast, but…"

"But what?" Greg was practically bursting with curiosity.

"Towards the end of the night, well, you see," Peter stuttered, " he tried to kiss me."

Greg's eyes widened.

"At first I got all spooked and left in a hurry, but on my way home I started to think about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to kiss him! I've never kissed anyone. An' I've never thought about kissing any of the girls I've ever dated. What's wrong with me? Why am I like this? Why can't I be normal? What do I do? It's killing me Greg!"

Here, Peter started to cry again.

"Oh Pete. Nothings wrong with ya. You just like boys. There's lots of people like that. I mean, it's not completely normal, but you're not sick and you're not a freak"

Peter sniffled and dragged his arm underneath his nose.

"But why can't I like girls? Dad likes 'em, you like 'em, and as far as I know Bobby does too."

"Because you just weren't made that way. Why don't we go tell mom and dad, they could probably explain it better'n I could."

At the mention of his parents, Peter's eyes widened, and he vehemently shook his head.

"N-no. No, we can't tell them! What'll they say? What if they hate me? I heard that a guy told his parents the same thing and they kicked him out of the house! I'm not ready for that. I can't tell them. Nu-huh, no way."

"Hey, they're not gonna be mad Peter, okay? And if they are, well, I'll be right there to back you up. We'll get through it together, but you gotta tell them."

Greg laid a reassuring hand on Peter's shoulder.

With a shaky sigh Peter slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, okay."

Greg and Peter walked into the livingroom and sat across from Carol and Mike who were relaxing in the chairs and reading the evening newspaper.

"Umm, Mom, Dad, Pete has something to tell you guys. It's real important so please be patient."

Looking concerned the two nodded and set down their reading material, then turned their attention to the third oldest Brady kid.

Peter stared intently at the coffee table separating him and his parents. How was he supposed to start?

"Mom, dad, I've got somethin' to tell you."

"All right Peter, we're listening," Mike spoke, trying to give his son a reassuring look.

'Well," Peter started, "I didn't really like dinner tonight. If Alice ever makes it again can you ask her to make me something else instead? Okay thanks, bye."

Peter started to stand when Greg grabbed his wrist and pulled him back onto the couch.

"Hold it right there. Now look, you gotta tell them, and remember I'm right here, okay? Just say it real quick and get it over with. Like what you told Bobby, you drink your medicine real fast to get it over with."

"Come on Peter, whatever it is, you can tell us," Carol encouraged.

Peter's throat was suddenly dry, but his hands were clammy. He felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead and he suddenly got the jitters. It was hard enough to tell Greg, but to tell his parents too, all in the same day?

"I-I like boys!" Peter spit out in a rush of air.

"I'm sorry, what?" Carol whispered. "I th-I think I misheard you."

"I said, I like boys." Peter repeated slower.

"Well, of course you do honey. How would you have so many friends, if you didn't?" Carol laughed, hoping that's what Peter meant.

"No, mom," a tear slid down his cheek, "I like, like, boys. In a...romantic sorta way."

"You're...a homo?" Mike questioned, anger lacing his voice.

How could one of his sons be...no, no-no. He wasn't prepared for something like this, because he never thought it would ever happen. Was he okay with his son being...well, like that? He never really thought about it.

"No, no son of mine would be a fag. You don't like boys Peter, you're just confused. Now stop wasting our time." Mike spat ripping open his newspaper again.

"But Dad," Greg started.

"NO!" Mike cut him off. "If you choose to pursue this-this lifestyle, if you want to be a freak, then you will leave this house. I will not have a homo living under my roof."

"Mike!" Carol reprimanded. "Let's talk about this before making any snap decisions."

"Yeah Dad," Greg interjected, "he's your son. How can you just judge him like that?"

With an annoyed sigh, Mike stood up. "We'll talk about this in morning."

He threw the paper onto the table and went upstairs.

"Alright kids, you better go to bed also. I'll see you in morning."

They all stood up and Carol went over and hugged Greg, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Then she moved to Peter. "Don't worry too much about it tonight, honey. Okay? I'll talk to your dad."

She hugged Peter and kissed him on the head. Then the boys started up the stairs towards their respective bedrooms.

"Umm, Greg?" Peter stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah Pete?" Greg stopped too.

Peter scratched at his arm uncomfortably. "Can I sleep in your room tonight?"

"Oh, Peter co-"

"Please? Just for one night? I-I'm scared." Peter hugged himself.

"Alright fine, but just one night!"


End file.
